Structural shape based on waste paper and method of providing the same

ABSTRACT

A STRUCTURAL SHAPE IS PROVIDED BY TREATING DRY WASTE PAPER IN A HAMMER MILL HAVING A PERIPHERAL SPEED OF ABOUT 4500 FEET PER MINUTE UNTIL THE WASTE PAPER IS REDUCED TO INDIVIDUAL PAPER FIBERS. THE FIBERS ARE WITHDRAWN BY VACUUM FROM THE HAMMER MILL THROUGH A SCREEN. THEY ARE COATED THROUGHLY WITH AN AQUEOUS BINDER, SUCH AS POLYVINYL CHLORIDE, UREA-FORMALDEHYDE OR PHENOLIC RESIN. A SUFFICIENT MASS OF SO-COATED FIBERS IS THEN COMPRESSED (WITH RELEASE OF WATER) UNDER PRESSURE OF ABOUT 6000 POUNDS PER SQUARE INCH AND IS THEN BAKED IN COMPRESSED FORM FOR SIX TO EIGHT HOURS AT ABOUT 250* FAHRENHEIT TO RESULT IN A GEOMETRICAL BODY HAVING A DENSITY OF ABOUT 40 POUNDS PER CUBIC FOOT. THE COMPLETED BODY IS ADEQUATELY STRONG AND IS OTHERWISE SUITABLE FOR CONSTRUCTION OR BUILDING PURPOSES.

May 29, 1973 METHOD OF PROVIDING THE SAME Filed July 29. 1971 WASTE PAPER HAMMEQ MILL PE M 0 VA L. THROUGH SCREEN BIA/DEE MIX MOLD

EXCESS B/NDEUQ C OMPEE 55 BAKE k/Ne 14 Eve/es GEORGE H. LAESE M/ VE/VTORS ATTORNEYS United States Patent O U.S. Cl. 161170 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A structural shape is provided by treating dry waste paper in a hammer mill having a peripheral speed of about 4500 feet per minute until the Waste paper is reduced to individual paper fibers. The fibers are withdrawn by vacuum from the hammer mill through a screen. They are coated thoroughly with an aqueous binder, such as polyvinyl chloride, urea-formaldehyde or phenolic resin. A sutficient mass of so-coated fibers is then compressed (with release of water) under pressure of about 6000 pounds per square inch and is then baked in compressed form for six to eight hours at about 250 Fahrenheit to result in a geometrical body having a density of about 40 pounds per cubic foot. The completed body is adequately strong and is otherwise suitable for construction or building purposes.

Presently there is a considerable desire and need to reclaim and reuse various items presently wasted, particularly waste paper. There is simultaneously a need for building or construction materials useful in place of customary materials, such as wood, cinder blocks, cork and the like.

It is therefore an object of our invention to provide a structural shape which is based on waste paper as its prime ingredient and which is etfective as a substitute for many of the building materials presently employed.

Another object of the invention is to provide a structural shape which can easily be altered by sawing and can be fastened and fastened to by nailing, bolting, by adhesives and similar techniques.

Another object of the invention is to provide a structural shape which has good acoustic insulation qualities.

A further object of the invention is to provide a structural shape that, when particularly prepared, has excellent fire resistant qualities.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a structural shape that retains its structural integrity over a long period of time.

A further object of the invention is to overcome previous' difficulties with the utilization of waste paper for building purposes and to provide a satisfactory product with such a base.

A further object 'of the invention is in general to provide a waste paper structural shape that can readily be fabricated on machinery currently available.

A further object of the invention is to provide a structural shape based on waste paper that can readily be produced or fabricated by a straightforward method.

Other objects together with the foregoing are attained in the embodiment of the invention described in the accompanying description and by the practice of the method of the invention as outlined in the accompanying description and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

The figure is a block diagram showing the steps in the method of the invention.

In investigating the use of waste paper as the basis of a structurally sound building material, we early determined from the patent literature and otherwise that it has been customary to soak waste paper initially in various 3,736,221 Patented May 29, 1973 liquids in order to provide wet or aqueous pulp, which is then processed in wet form. In following such concept we have been led to a structurally weak and somewhat unpredictable product. While having some value as finish material and as acoustic insulation and the like, the product does not have sufiicient structural strength for building purposes, such as bearing walls, beams and the like. We, therefore, have experimented in utilizing waste paper in initially dry form. We have left the waste paper dry, as received, and have comminuted it in dry form by putting it substantially as recived into a standard hammer mill. A typical mill is about 24 inches in diameter and is rotated at about 1500 revolutions per minute. The peripheral speed is something over 9000 feet per minute.

Dry waste paper of all sorts, such as newspaper, magazines, pamphlets, books, shipping cartons, fiberboard and the like, was indiscriminately loaded into the hammer mill and the mill was operated at the indicated speed. After a short time, a matter of a very few minutes, the waste paper was found to be comminuted into virtually individual fibers; that is, the fibers of the paper were interlocked with each other but were deprived of other, nonfibrous configurations. The result was a group of individual fibers, intertwined but individually recognizable under the microscope at about magnifications. The paper is not pulped, shredded, ground or reduced to small particles, but it is processed into fibers. This eifect seems to occur in appreciable amounts with presently available waste paper only above about 6000 feet per minute peripheral speed of the hammer mill.

When the separate, dry, at least partially interlocked fibers have been processed, they are withdrawn from the hammer mill by vacuum and through a screen having openings or a mesh of about three-eights of an inch. The dry, detached fibers (the fibrous material) are carried in the vacuum-induced air flow and are put into a porous container. A binder, preferably one with an aqueous base, is then thoroughly intermixed with the up-to-now dry fibers. Mixing is continued until substantially all surfaces of the separate, individual fibers are thoroughly coated with the binder.

There is a large range of binders readily available and suitable for this purpose of which we mention particularly polyvinyl chloride, urea-formaldehyde resin and phenolic resin. Aqueous solutions of any one or mixtures of these binders or of related, similar binders are suitably intermixed with the fibers from the hammer mill. One proportion that has proved satisfactory is the admixture of about 50 pounds of the dry fibers with about 5 gallons of the aqueous binder.

As an example, to 5 parts by volume of vinyl polymer there may also be added 0.5 part of a water repellant, such as chrome complex in isopropanol, or 0.5 part of sodium silicate as a fire retardant. Further, small amounts of fungicides, germicides and pest repellants can be added, depending upon ultimate use. There is a thorough intermixture of the two at atmospheric pressure and temperature. The admixed material is then placed in a porous container or mold of a suitable shape, usually a geometrical shape; for example, rectangular, to simulate the customary wooden beam.

The material in the container is then put into a press and is subjected to pressure and compaction so that the fibers are brought close to each other and so that the binder coating on and around each one of the fibers commingles with the binder coating on the other fibers and so that the pressure tends thoroughly to impregnate the fibers with binder. A suitable pressure in the press is 6000 pounds persquare inch. During the compaction of the material, the excess liquid, such as water and any excess binder, is permitted to escape from the mold. We believe that should 3 4 there initially be water in the fibers the binder does not beaten from dry waste paper in the proportion of about displace it. This causes weakness. It is important to start 50 pounds and an aqueous binder in the proportion of Wlth dry fibers for that reason among Others- The amount about 5 gallons, compressing the mixture with release of water present with the binder does not particularly get into the fibrous material, so that good penetration by the 5 binder occurs in the instant process. At the conclusion of the pressure operation the confined material is quite dense of water at a pressure of about 6000 pounds per square inch and baking the compressed mixture at about 250 Fahrenheit for about 6 to 8 hours, the body having a and relatively density of about 40 pounds per cubic foot.

Then the compacted, compressed mixture in its geo- 2. A structural shape as in claim 1 in which the binder metrical form is subjected to a baking operation under a 10 includes a polyvinyl chloride. temperature, for example, of Fahrenheit for a time 3. A structural shape as in claim 1 in which the binder from approximately six to eight hours. Any extra moisture includes a Phenolic resin. is driven off and polymerization is carried to an appropri- 4 A Structural shapc as in claim 1m which the binder ate extent. At the end of that time, the baking is discon- I d f M h d tinned. The cooled product is considered to be finished. es auma' Orma eresm' It has a sharply defined geometrical shape, has a density A method of f f structural shape on of about 40 pounds per cubic foot, although this figure Waste P p compllslflg ifeatmg y Waste P p In a can vary widely, and is structurally strong so that it can hammer mill, withdrawing resulting dry paper fibers from readily be used in place of lumber, building blocks, insaid mill through a screen, combining the withdrawn fi- Slllatiofl, finish P g and the likebers with an aqueous binder resulting in a mixture, com- While one Particular density has been given as an pressing the mixture into a geometrical body under about ample, it is pointed out that the density is subject to considerable variation. For example, if the geometrical shape 6000 pounds per square i pressure whfle piinmmng is a panel useful primarily as a sound absorber, the denwater to escape and bakmg the compressed at sity can be considerably less than for load bearing uses. 5 about eit for om about 6 to 8 hours. The density given is often utilized but can be substantially 6, A m h d as i l i 5 i hi the binder includes increased for even greater strength. polyvinyl chloride.

Sometimes materials other than paper are used, partic- 7 A th d 1 5 h th d l d ularly if these are fibrous and act in a fashion similar to as m 6 mm m w m e er mc as waste paper. Sometimes, also, other materials are used, a Phenohc resinprimarily as fillers or to afford dilferent finishes and the 8. A method as in claim 5 in which the binder includes like. The resulting product can be sawed to different a urewfonnaldehyde resin. shapes, will receive nails and screws appropriately, and does not easily chip or crack. Rather, it is highly homogeneous and is eminently suitable for construction. It

9. A method as in claim 5 in which said hammer mill has a peripheral speed of about 9000 feet per minute meets various tests as follow and said screen has about a three-eights inch mesh.

Solid Douglas fir Present product Value Rating Value Rating 5 Excellent.-. 80in.-lbs G d Im act resistance 100 in.-1b o0 Taliier abrasion resistance (CS-17 wheel, 1 kg. load) 200 mg., 1,000 rev Good 91 mg, 1,000 rev- Excellent.

Smoke evolution "m Ft,d Vi,

gig pilot flame 5 Iiii n SEISW, fi l i lfi min Sig, d e ns e dense With finished material of density about lbs./cu. ft.: References Cited at 30 psi. load, unit strain is about .012 inch per inch; UNITED STATES PATENTS at 2000 p.s.i. load, unit strain is about inch p inch; 2,104,996 1/1938 Ives 161-133 x nd at 6000 psi. load, unit strain is about .45 in h p 3,086,253 4/1963 Joa 264-128 X inch, 3,235,530 2/1966 Crouch et a1 161168 X The thermal conductivity of this material (K factor) is FOREIGN PATENTS about 0.193, comparable to Celotex (compressed sugar 3 20 cane fiber) and distinct from Masonite (compressed 97 3 10/1964 Great Bmam 264-123 Wood fiber) at WILLIAM A. POWELL, Primary Examiner What is claimed is: 1. A structural shape based on waste paper comprising US. Cl. X.R.

a geometrical body primarily resulting from mixing fibers 6O 15662.2; 2641l5, 128 

